While HTC had already announced the HTC One M9 will hit the stores across the U.S. beginning on April 10, it recently said consumers can start placing their orders directly on its site as the clock ticks over to midnight EDT on Friday, March 27.
Priced at $649, the device, which comes unlocked with 32 GB of storage, will be supported by all of the U.S.' operators such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.
While April 10 is only a few weeks away, HTC believes that a little surprise on the device's early availability will somehow ease out the busy atmosphere that is anticipated on the said date. It should be noted that Apple is also placing April 10 as the date when consumers could begin making preorders for the Apple Watch.
As stated earlier, HTC will offer the One M9 in an unlocked version on its website while carrier versions of the device will also be available. According to the company, the unlocked device is based on the AT&T SKU and will feature support for 850/AWS/1900/2100 MHz 3G UMTS. There is also an added support for 4G LTE bands 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 29 and 30.
HTC is also bundling the device with the so-called "Uh-Oh Protection," a free one-year insurance. Under this scheme, consumers can replace their One M9 with an equivalent device for free and can also switch to different carrier. The conditions to be considered for a free exchange would include those devices that suffer from a cracked screen or water damage.
If the consumer finds no need to claim the service after its validity has ended, HTC will give the user a $100 credit to use toward purchasing another One device. HTC hopes that with this scheme, consumers can get some extra peace of mind while being assured of the phone's unchanged design and performance at the same time.
"The craftsmanship of our new HTC One M9 resembles that of a fine watch," said HTC's Jason Mackenzie on the M9. "We've retained our iconic design but made it even better while not compromising on what is important to our customers."
With the new announcement, consumers now have the choice to either purchase the HTC One M9 directly from HTC.com on Friday, March 27, or wait until the device hits the stores on April 10, which is also on a Friday. There's no information whether the price for the early sale remains unchanged on April 10.
